Christmas at the Weasleys'
by MotherCrumpet
Summary: Christmas is always an interesting affair at the Burrow, but this year is particularly chaotic. Proposals, secret relationships, old traditions, and most of all old friendships make this Christmas an occasion to remember!


Twenty-two year old Katie Bell was lying in the middle of the floor in her favorite place in the world, The Burrow. It was Christmas, and nearly three years had passed since the Battle of Hogwarts and the death of her best friend, Fred Weasley. Some days she still woke up and felt the raw grief that his death, and the deaths of so many others, had caused. Usually, though, she remembered with happiness.

"Kathryn. You are twenty-two." Her mother said, right on cue. Katie allowed herself a quick smirk at the predictability, but wiped it from her face before her mother could see it. "Please begin to act like it rather than lying in the middle of the floor."

"Please Mum." Katie rolled her eyes. "I'm only here because Teddy wanted to play."

"Me too, Mrs. Bell." George piped up from beside her.

"No, you're lying there because Katie whipped your arse at wizard's chess again." Ginny pointed out. "And she had Teddy playing on her team. What's your excuse?"

"He can only hear out of the one ear." Katie grinned and dodged quickly out of the way as George swiped at her. The assorted members of the Bell, Tonks, and Weasley families laughed from around the room. "What? I knew that's what you were going to say. You always do. It _is_ quite a good excuse."

"Shut up and go snog Charlie or something." George muttered, his voice somewhat distorted as Teddy Lupin started pulling at his mouth and face.

"What's that George said?" Finn Bell asked, leaning forward on the couch and looking like he heard quite perfectly what George had said. Judging from the look on his face, Katie's elder brother was none too happy with the revelation that something was going on between his baby sister and best friend. Katie swallowed nervously.

"Good going, George." Katie grumbled, punching George in the stomach, something that little Teddy found hysterical and worthy of repetition because of the funny sound George emitted. "Look, Finny, I _was_ going to mention it, but…"

"Slipped your mind, eh?" Finn raised an eyebrow.

"It's just been so busy, you know?" Katie said desperately, and rather lamely. "What with all the… stuff I've, er, been busy doing. Okay, I admit, that sounded better in my head."

"Relax, Katie. I told him. He's just been waiting months for the chance to give you a hard time about it." Charlie's voice echoed in from the doorway. He was leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed, looking amused at the uncomfortable position that Katie now found herself in.

"You're dating Charlie, and you didn't tell me?" Mrs. Bell demanded, clearly torn between emotions. On the one hand, she'd known Charlie Weasley since the day he was born; in fact, as Molly Weasley's best friend, Audra Bell was his godmother. On the other hand, there was that ponytail that Charlie had begun to sport when Bill had finally cut his off, and the fact that Charlie thought it good fun to go gallivanting all around Romania working with dragons.

"About time." Bill snorted, finally intervening on George's behalf and pulling Teddy off of him. "We've been betting on it for years. Mum, you won!"

"I knew it!" Mrs. Weasley shouted, popping her head into the living room from the kitchen. "You treat her right, Charlie Weasley, or you'll have your godmother to answer to."

Katie grinned her thanks in Bill's direction for taking the attention off her so smoothly. This kind of thing, well, dating in general, had never been her forte, especially not telling her mother. She could name at least three other times that the current person whom she was dating was ousted over holiday dinner to her mother, although the accusation that she was dating Fred was unfounded and had caused more than one argument that Christmas. The most memorable, naturally, being the one between Katie and Fred himself because Katie thought that Fred had been the one to initiate the lie, when George just thought it'd be a good laugh.

Charlie grinned and held his hands up in surrender before shouldering his bags and heading upstairs to drop his things in his room. Katie glanced around the room, unsure of what to do in this situation. She wanted to go see Charlie, whom she hadn't seen in person in over a month, but she didn't want to make the family cause a scene. She caught Ginny's eye, who was clearly motioning for her to go.

"Go on, Katie." George whispered. "I'll keep them from teasing you too bad."

Katie rolled her eyes, as if this weren't what was causing her hesitation. "Thanks Georgie, I owe you."

"Just do the same when Angelina shows up, yeah?" George raised an eyebrow meaningfully.

"Hold on, you didn't tell your mum that you're dating Ange? Who exactly does she think is coming to dinner tomorrow?"

"My girlfriend. Only I didn't tell her who that was."

"Right." Katie snorted. "I'm so going to enjoy this. While mitigating damage, of course."

"Of course."

"I don't know who's going to be angrier with you for keeping it a secret, Ange or your mum." Katie snickered before dashing out of the room. She ran into nearly everyone on the stairs that she was not looking for, including Ron and Hermione making out, and heard suspicious sounds coming from Percy's room. By the time she had safely reached Charlie's room, she wasn't sure she wanted to know what Percy and his girlfriend, Audrey, used the term 'settling in' as a euphemism for doing.

"There you are." Charlie said, raising an eyebrow. "I was starting to think you were actually going to stay frozen in that living room forever."

"Sorry," Katie snickered. "I got sidetracked by George's eminent doom on the horizon. He's dating Angelina and told your mum she doesn't know the girl."

"Doesn't Mum still not like Angelina for something?"

"Uhm. She walked in on Ange and George back when we were all in school." Katie snickered. "It was the summer after the Yule Ball, when your mum thought Fred was in love with Angelina. George was hiding from her for weeks; Fred thought it hysterical and egged the whole thing on pretending to be heartbroken whenever your mum was around."

By this time, Charlie had crossed the room to Katie and pulled her into the room, shutting the door behind her. "I missed you."

"Better not say that too loud." Katie grinned. "Somebody might not believe your macho look any longer."

"Just let me kiss you, Bell." Charlie said, backing her up against the door and kissing her rather forcefully. She responded eagerly, or she did until someone started knocking on the door. Charlie was clearly frustrated by this, because he thumped his fist against the door beside Katie's head. She grinned at him sheepishly. "What?" Charlie called rather gruffly through the closed door.

"Well, since you didn't come say hello, I thought I'd come find you." Mr. Weasley said from the other side of the door.

Charlie grinned sheepishly at Katie and gently pulled her away from the door before opening it. "Sorry Dad, it's been a long night already."

"I heard." Mr. Weasley chuckled as he hugged his son. "Hi Katie. So Charlie how's Romania?"

"Oh, you know." Charlie shrugged. "Lots of dragons; lots of excitement."

"Well, I can take a hint." Mr. Weasley clapped his son on the shoulder and winked. "We can catch up over dinner, which Molly told me to warn you would be ready soon. See you, Katie."

"Bye Mr. Weasley." Katie said, her face slightly red. Clearly the Weasley family was enjoying this immensely. "Merlin, why'd you have to tell everyone?"

"Maybe because I didn't want to look like an idiot if I ever propose to you, as unlikely as that is to happen." Charlie smiled. "And maybe I'm enjoying their teasing being directed at me for once."

"What is that supposed to mean? You're unlikely to propose to me?" Katie pursed her lips. "I'm a catch, Charles Tiberius Weasley, I'll have you know."

"Oh, I know. Catch a Katie is my favorite game, remember?" Charlie smirked and slowly edged towards her, his goal obviously being to try and catch her.

"No way. We are not playing anything until you explain exactly what you meant." Katie dodged and danced back out of his reach. "I don't like your insinuation that you would never think of marrying me."

"Kates, why have I ever done anything to you, hmm?" Charlie asked, raising an eyebrow. "Because I wanted to see your reaction. That's why."

"So what exactly does my reaction tell you this time?" Katie said, suppressing a smile as she remembered exactly all of the things Charlie had done in the past to get a reaction from her, including kissing her for the first time.

"That you're serious about our relationship."

"Oh." Katie thought about that for a second and decided she liked that assessment. "Well, you still haven't greeted me properly."

"I can fix that." Charlie laughed and wrapped his arms around her.

"CHARLIE!" Ginny's voice screamed up the stairs. "Dinner!"

"Damn Ginny, I was supposed to get him!" George bellowed back, his voice coming from just outside the door. He was clearly eavesdropping until the optimum time to open the door.

"Mum decided sending you was a bad idea. She rather likes Katie and Charlie." Ron's voice entered the conversation. It was fairly obvious that he had been following George's plan of optimum announcement of dinnertime, planning to burst in and catch Katie and Charlie making-out.

"I hate your brothers." Katie sighed, throwing open the door and shoving George roughly towards the stairs. "You're a jerk, George Weasley. And you, Ronald, don't think I won't beat you up just because Hermione is here for the holidays as well."

Ron gulped; he'd been through one too many thrashings from Katie over the years, leaving no doubts in his mind that she would follow through on her threat.

"Katie, stop picking on Ron." Finn said, grabbing his sister in a headlock the second she set foot in the kitchen. "He's such a baby. It isn't fair."

"Ugh, Finn." Katie jabbed her brother in the side and dodged behind Charlie. "Where's your girlfriend?"

"Chelsea is here?" Charlie asked. "Excellent."

"Stop it." Katie poked her boyfriend in the ribs. Chelsea was as beautiful as Fleur, and not nearly as annoying. The last holiday, all of the men present had been tripping over themselves to help her, and she wasn't even part veela.

"Mmm, nah. I don't have to worry much about keeping you around."

"Jerk." Katie gave him a mock dirty look and slipped off.

"So, you and my sister, huh?" Finn asked, finally able to hear about it in person.

"Yeah." Charlie said, grinning after Katie. She winked at him once she'd reached his mum and started helping getting the last second things ready for dinner. He winked back and turned to her brother. "Look, I know you were worried at first, but I'm not just mucking around."

"I know." Finn clapped Charlie on the back. "Look, I'm asking Chelsea to marry me tomorrow. You think she'll say yes?"

"She's been putting up with this bunch of crazies, so I'd say your chances are pretty good."

"Will you be best man? I'd ask Katie, but somehow I don't think she'd find that too funny."

"Of course." Charlie laughed. "Listen, I'm thinking of moving back here. No more Romania."

"Really?"

"WOULD EVERYONE PLEASE SIT DOWN?" Mrs. Weasley shouted.

"I haven't told anyone yet, so just don't mention it." Charlie said as they headed to their usual seats around the crowded table. "Alright, I get to sit next to Chelsea!"

"You also get to sit beside me." Katie pointed out, climbing over the back of her chair to be able to get into her seat. Everyone was pressed so tightly together to fit that Katie was practically in Charlie's lap.

"I've been sitting beside you since I can remember." Charlie countered. "Therefore you're no longer exciting."

"Hmm." Katie patted him on the leg. "I'd beg to differ."

Charlie pecked her on the corner of her mouth and whispered in her ear, "tell me you're staying here tonight."

"Where else would I go?" Katie smirked, raising an eyebrow. "Hermione and I are shoved with Ginny in her room. I have to vacate or risk witnessing an intrusion by Harry when he and Hermione switch places after they think everyone is asleep."

"Shh. Mum might hear you!" Ron hissed from across the table, his ears turning bright red.

"Maybe I should talk louder then. Tell her how you were making out in the stairwell earlier." Katie stuck out her tongue.

"Yeah, and I'll tell her how you pushed Fred down the stairs that day he broke his collarbone."

"She's known that since I did it. Remember? She told me I wasn't allowed back in the house until I learned how to properly behave on the stairs, made me sleep outside for a week." Katie rolled her eyes. "At least come up with some good blackmail, Ron. Honestly, all of us for examples and you still haven't learned to do it properly yet. Oy, Ginny, where's Harry?"

Ginny looked annoyed. "He owled he was going to be late again. Something about somebody in the Minister's office getting arrested."

"Brilliant. I'll write about it when I get back." Katie grinned. "The Chosen One: Late to Christmas Eve Dinner. That should sell newspapers."

"What do you mean, when you get back?" George asked suspiciously, and just loudly enough that Mrs. Bell and Mrs. Weasley heard him.

"When I get back to work, dumbass." Katie said quickly.

"That's not what it sounded like." Ron grinned like a kid with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Well, it's what I meant." Katie countered, kicking him soundly in the shin under the table.

"Where are you going, Katie?" Mrs. Bell asked, knowing she had her daughter on the run now.

"Oh, you know." Katie glanced down the table to be sure that her dad wasn't hearing any of this. He appeared to be caught up in a discussion with Mr. Weasley and Mrs. Tonks. "Romania."

"How long are you visiting then?" Mrs. Weasley asked, smiling at the couple. Charlie put his arm around the back of his girlfriend's chair, chatting with Chelsea and Finn, but monitoring the situation in case he needed to bail Katie out. Again.

"Two weeks." Katie said, glancing nervously in her dad's direction again. Hugo Bell would not be happy to hear that his daughter was jaunting off to Romania to visit Charlie Weasley for two weeks.

"What's that about two weeks?" Mr. Bell asked, turning to Katie.

"Uhm." Katie shifted slightly closer to Charlie. "I'm visiting Charlie after Christmas for two weeks."

"You're visiting who?!" Mr. Bell demanded. "For how long?!"

"Oh calm down, Hugo." Mrs. Bell rolled her eyes. "Kathryn is an adult now. She can risk losing her job over too much vacation and go gallivanting with my godson off to Romania if she wants. And there's nothing we can do to stop her."

"Now you've done it." Katie said, flinging a spoonful of potatoes at George. "Here's the first fight of the holiday."

"Nah, you already fought with Finn about whose turn it was to represent your family in the cookie eating contest." George pointed out, wiping the potatoes off his face.

"Yeah, but someone is likely to cry." Ginny said, watching the disagreement unfold. "And I think it might be Katie."

"I'm not going to cry." Katie rolled her eyes.

"Settle the fight, Kates." Finn urged his sister. "Go on. Start crying and Dad'll stop arguing."

"Ugh, fine. But I hate crying on demand, just so you know." And with that, Katie started crying. "Daddy! Stop yelling at Mum. It's my decision."

"Oh, Katie, don't cry honey." Mr. Bell said, obviously flabbergasted as to why his twenty-two year old daughter was crying at the moment. "This isn't about you. It's about how dangerous that decision could be."

"You never let me do anything I want!" Katie wailed. "Just let me go to Romania and don't lecture me. I'm an adult!"

"Yeah, who still throws temper tantrums to get what she wants." Ron muttered. Katie kicked his chair and sent him sprawling onto the floor. "Ouch!"

"Okay! Just stop crying!" Mr. Bell threw his napkin down the table at Katie, presumably for her to blow her nose on, and turned to Mr. Weasley to return to his previous conversation.

"Well." Katie grinned at her brother. "You owe me two galleons. If I remember correctly, you said I couldn't still do that."

Finn fished the money out of his pocket and handed it to her.

"Katie, don't ever do that in front of Victoire, please." Bill laughed. "I think she might get ideas."

"Eet iz not attractive." Fleur huffed.

"Harry!" Ginny exclaimed, scrambling out of her seat with exaggerated difficulty to distract Fleur from whatever she was going to insult Katie with and break up another fight. Charlie nodded at his sister thankfully; holiday dinner in The Burrow was a complicated series of diplomacy and strategic warfare.

Once Harry had gotten settled, everything went fairly smoothly for the rest of dinner. After that, everyone scattered throughout the house for the evening. Katie and Ginny stayed in the kitchen with Mrs. Weasley, Mrs. Bell, and Mrs. Tonks to help clean up.

"So, are things with Charlie serious?" Mrs. Bell asked, trying to slide it into the conversation.

"Well Mum. Way to be subtle." Katie dropped into a chair, and the other women slowly stopped what they were doing and turned to look at her. "I'm going to Romania for two weeks. I'm also considering putting in for a transfer there from the _Daily Prophet_ to cover that part of the world. So yeah, I'd say it's pretty serious."

"What does Charlie say about you transferring?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"I haven't told him yet." Katie grinned at the table, knowing exactly what his reaction would be. He'd be through the roof with excitement. "Now don't one of you go mentioning it to him before I get the chance."

"Katie Bell is in love with my brother." Ginny laughed, clearly enjoying the thought. "Who'd have thought I'd see the day? I always bet you'd be stubborn and stay away from Charlie."

"Want to come play a round of Exploding Snap, Gin?" Harry asked, poking his head into the kitchen.

"Sure." Ginny headed into the other room.

"Excellent. We'll trounce Ron and Hermione." Harry caught Katie's eye. "Oh, and Katie, I heard about you and Charlie. Good for you."

"I wasn't in love with Fred." Katie rolled her eyes. She'd never be able to convince Harry Potter of that fact. "I hate holidays."

"Well, Katie, the kitchen's all clean. Go and join the young folk. Leave us old biddies to gossip in peace." Mrs. Tonks waved for her to leave and the three matrons sat down at the table.

Katie grabbed a glass of eggnog and headed into the other room. There, she spotted an empty spot beside George, but across the room from Charlie. Sighing, Katie debated what to do in the situation. Sit where she always would have sat before, next to her best friend, or sit across the room with her boyfriend? After a few seconds of hesitation, she perched on the arm of Charlie's chair, and he grinned up at her.

"Aw, brought me a glass of eggnog. How sweet." He reached for the glass, but Katie held it out of his reach.

"I don't think so. This is mine." Katie grinned at him and downed the glass, which instantly refilled itself. Katie blinked at the glass and looked around to see how many people had noticed, in case there was any way to slip the dreaded Bottomless Glass to Charlie.

"Don't even think about passing that one off on me." Charlie shook his head. "I had it last year, remember?"

"Ooh. Katie got the good glass!" Bill laughed. "Good one, Charlie. You'll have to spend the night holding Katie's hair back for sure."

"I'll get the hangover potion ready." George shouted from across the room where he was playing loving uncle to Victoire and reading a Christmas story to her and Teddy.

"I still don't understand that glass." Chelsea sighed. She was only experiencing her second holiday at The Burrow, so confusion was only to be expected. There were lots of strange traditions.

"Fred created it when I was fifteen." Katie explained, avoiding drinking from the dreaded glass as long as possible. "I think it was a ploy to get me drunk enough to finally snog Charlie. Anyway, he was a little over zealous, and instead of constantly refilling so I didn't know how much I'd drunk, which is what he intended, it completely refills itself after you've drank a whole glass."

"What's the problem with that?" Chelsea asked.

"Well, it also refills itself after thirty minutes, regardless of whether or not you've finished the previous glass, meaning that if you haven't the glass overflows all over the place. Only the person who starts the night with the glass can drink from it, or the time between refills decreases, and the drink it refills with is always stronger than the last drink you had."

"Basically, Kates is going to be piss-ass drunk." Charlie grinned.

"So what happened the first time?" Mr. Bell asked, raising an eyebrow. "I've never heard the whole story."

"Oh!" Katie took a long swig of her drink, pretending to be concerned with that. She was actually hoping to not be forced to tell the story. Unfortunately, every eye in the room was turned her direction and eagerly waiting to see how she was going to get out of this one. "Well. I got extremely intoxicated, not even knowing I was drinking alcohol, and made a fool of myself. Mrs. Weasley chased Fred around with a broom cause he thought the whole thing was hysterical, and then I spent the night boofing in Ginny's bathroom."

"That's not the whole story!" George protested, handing Victoire and Teddy over to Fleur for bedtime.

"Oh dear." Katie sighed, knowing there was no way of avoiding George telling the whole story, probably with Finn, Charlie, and Ron chiming in at certain parts to corroborate the whole thing.

"So the drink in the glass was vodka and lemonade." George started, his audience hanging on his every word. "As I'm sure everyone knows, Kates here loves her vodka. She'd probably had four or five glasses before Fred admitted that he'd made a mistake. At this point, she was giggling over nothing, had confessed her undying love for Vicktor Krum, Roger Davies, and at least three other blokes she'd barely talked to, and Ginny had nearly convinced her that the world really was flat."

"That was when I walked up." Finn cut in, taking over the narrative. "Charlie and I were both home for the week so that we could see everyone, and we'd been playing Quidditch up the hill. At first, I just figured that Katie was being hyper, and then I realized she was dead drunk. Fred was leaning towards her conspiringly and looking immensely guilty, so I knew without a shadow of a doubt that he was at fault. Just as I was about to go find out what was going on, Katie lunged at him and Fred darted off, just like he had so many other times."

George picked the story back up, "So Katie was chasing Fred around, but she was stumbling every which way and kept falling on the ground. Fred climbed over the garden wall and Katie was tugging at the gate, trying desperately to follow him. Ginny was trying to tell Katie her glass was overflowing, and Katie was shouting back at her something completely incomprehensible, whilst still trying to open the gate. After a minute she gave up on the gate and went to take care of her glass, probably drinking another full glass and a half to stem the flow."

"I'd gone after Fred and forced him to tell me exactly what he'd done to my sister to get her so drunk. I thought he was going to pee himself, he was that scared of me right then." Finn was laughing too hard at the memory that he waved at the others to finish the story.

"So then I walked up." Charlie winked at Katie, who looked rather like she'd prefer to be dead at that moment than having this story recounted. She polished off another drink and glared at him. "I'd been putting up the Quidditch balls, so I got there just as Katie had decided to look around for Fred again. I watched her stumble up to Finn and Fred, who both whispered something to her and turned her in my direction. I'd just closed the gate behind me when Katie tripped on one of the gnomes and fell on the ground at my feet. I pulled her to her feet and she opened her mouth to say something and instead of words, out came vomit. I was covered head to toe."

"Now they can reenact old memories!" Finn howled with laughter. Katie threw a pillow at him.

"How is it that neither I, nor you mother, were aware of this?" Mr. Bell asked, looking amused despite himself.

"Er." Mr. Weasley tugged at his collar. "Molly and I thought it best that we take care of Katie, and punish Fred properly. Though that glass has made an appearance at every major family gathering since that moment."

"She got her kiss from Charlie though." Ginny pointed out from the corner where she sat playing Exploding Snap with Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"What?" Finn asked, looking at Ginny with surprise.

"After he cleaned both of them up and carried her inside. Charlie figured she wouldn't remember, so he kissed her. He'd been wanting to do it for ages." Ginny's eyes twinkled mischievously as she ousted her older brother after so many years.

"How did you know that?" Charlie demanded as everyone turned to look at him, including Katie who had her eyebrows raised and was smirking.

"Because Katie was singing about it and talking nonsense in her sleep when I went to check on her, even though she'd forgotten by morning. Plus you looked way too happy for your own good after being puked all over. I thought everyone knew." But from Ginny's smirk, it was obvious that she was well aware that everyone didn't know.

The room was silent for a minute, and then everyone present bust out laughing at the same time. Katie leaned happily back against the chair, one arm around Charlie's shoulders as if for balance and Charlie put his hand casually on her leg. He winked and grinned up at his girlfriend.

"Will you kiss me this time?" Katie asked quietly as everyone started talking about other things.

"You don't have to be drunk for me to kiss you anymore." Charlie laughed. "I'll gladly kiss you anytime, drunk or sober."

"Good, but it looks like I'll probably be drunk." Katie giggled as she drank more of her eggnog. "Cheers."

Everyone chatted for a while longer about various subjects before everyone started going their separate ways. It was a slow trickle at first; Mr. Bell decided to collect his wife and head home to Bell Manor, Mrs. Tonks with them. Ginny and Hermione headed off to get ready for bed, Finn and Chelsea headed back to Bell Manor for the night. Before much longer, George was assuring a very drunk Katie he'd put the glass in the sink so that it wouldn't ruin the flowerbed with vodka again and heading off to bed. This left only Charlie and Katie, who was curled up in his lap, still awake downstairs.

"C'mon, Kates. Let's turn in." Charlie said, gathering Katie in his arms and standing up so he could carry her upstairs.

"Bed, bed, bed." Katie sang softly. "Charlie, I'm sleeping with you tonight."

"Yes, you most certainly are." Charlie chuckled. "And every night for the next two weeks as well. We get a lot of time together."

"Will I like Romania?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does, because you live there." Katie pointed out, very logically considering her current state. "And I like you a lot, so I want to be where you are."

"Katie, are you saying you'd move to Romania for me?" Charlie asked. He set her down on the bed and took a good look at her, judging if it was just the alcohol speaking or if she was serious.

"I have a transfer form all filled out." Katie admitted, and Charlie wondered exactly how intoxicated she was, because she wasn't showing it nearly as much as she had seemed to be a few minutes prior. "And I used the fact that I was supposed to be very drunk as a reason to snuggle with you in front of our families."

"Merlin Katie." Charlie felt himself break out into a huge grin. He climbed onto the bed with her and kissed her slowly and thoroughly. "I love you."

"I love you too." Katie whispered. "Happy Christmas Charlie."

"Happy Christmas, Kate." Charlie grinned again, unable to process this turn of events. "Go brush your teeth and get your pajamas."

"Yes sir." Katie kissed him again quickly and walked in a surprisingly straight line out of his room and up to Ginny's where her necessary belongings had neatly been placed right outside the bedroom door. In a few minutes, she was back in Charlie's bed waiting for him to get out of the bathroom. She was nearly asleep when she felt him slip into bed beside her and snuggled up to him.

"Sleepy?" Charlie asked, giving her another thorough kiss.

"Mmmm." Katie replied happily. "Very sleepy, but not if that's going to stop you from doing that again."

Charlie laughed. "I was going to leave Romania for you, you know that, right?"

"Well, we can't raise our kids in Romania, can we?" Katie snickered. "So you may still have to do it someday."

"If I were to propose to you right now, what would you do?" Charlie asked quietly.

"Take the ring and run."

"Good answer."

"I'd probably come back when I realized it was real."

"You wouldn't have to come back. I'd catch you."

"Good answer." Katie snuggled even closer to him and it wasn't long before they were both asleep.

Early the next morning, Katie was startled awake by the door being flung open and bouncing against the wall so hard that it clicked shut again. She groaned as the racket it made triggered her hangover headache.

"George Weasley, I'm going to kill you."

"Well, Mum is about to let the kids loose on whoever is still sleeping, which is virtually everyone, so if you don't want to be harassed to no end about spending the night with Charlie here, you'd best rouse yourself." George handed Katie a glass filled with a bright blue liquid, "Oh, and drink this."

"George, have I told you lately that I love you?" Katie asked, downing the potion in a gulp and wiggling out of Charlie's grasp. He hadn't stirred a muscle, which made sense when Katie thought about it. With Fred and George's room close to his own, he must've had to sleep through explosions on a regular basis, not to mention sleeping with the dragons around.

"Eh, no, but I reckon you've told Charlie recently." George teased.

"One word, George Weasley." Katie narrowed her eyes as she pushed her old friend out of the room and closed the door after she herself slipped out. "Angelina."

"Touché." George saluted Katie and thundered down the stairs towards the kitchen.

Katie headed in the opposite direction and quickly got dressed, brushed her teeth, and threw on a touch of make-up. Then she headed downstairs where Mrs. Weasley was busily trying to get food in everyone, keep cooking more food, and keep Teddy and Victoire from getting too close to the Christmas tree. Since Katie's attempts to help with food preparation at previous holiday gatherings were still discussed with a shudder, she scooped the kids up and entertained them with stories of her early years with the twins, which the youngsters found entertaining solely for the noises and faces that Katie made whilst telling them.

"What do you say we go wake everyone up so we can open those presents?" Katie said, winking at the children. "Just shout a lot and we can jump up and down on people's beds."

Teddy's eyes got wide, clearly he knew that he wasn't supposed to jump up and down on beds, but he wasn't about to point that out to Katie if she didn't know it. He followed her dutifully up the stairs, skipping Bill and Fleur's room, and on up to the very top. She threw the door open to Ron's room and started jumping up and down on the bed. Hermione was already up, but Ron was still in bed and shouted, nearly as loudly as the children, as he woke up in midair.

"I'm up! I'm up!"

"Christmas!" Katie and Teddy shouted, bouncing Ron right out of bed. Victoire just yelled and giggled happily.

"Merlin's beard, Katie! You're worse than Fred and George ever were!" Ron accused from the floor.

"Oh please, I've woken you up on Christmas the same way every year since you were born." Katie rolled her eyes. "Just because I'm teaching the younger generation my traditions is no reason for you to put on your grouchy pants."

And with that, Katie gathered the kids and headed off towards the next victim; Charlie. She was just about to throw open the door when there was the sound of a throat being cleared from behind her.

Teddy tugged on her sleeve and pointed behind them, "Uh oh."

Sheepishly, Katie turned around and grinned innocently at Charlie. "Happy Christmas?"

"You thought I would let you bounce me out of bed, huh?" Charlie laughed and scooped Teddy up, tossing him into the air. "I never let Katie and the twins wake me up on Christmas, I'm sure not going to ever let you succeed in doing it."

Teddy laughed and squirmed to be put down, then went dashing off down the stairs. Victoire shrieked to be put down so that she could follow Teddy. Katie watched her carefully, but Victoire managed the stairs just fine on her own. She leaned against the doorframe and turned her attention back to Charlie, "Couldn't let me, even just this one time?"

"Nope. Not after the entire world heard Ron shouting at you. Harry came barreling up the stairs pretty quickly, so as to get out of Ginny's room before you arrived."

"I always mean to start with someone else, but Ron is just so tempting." Katie said, smirking at Ron as he glared at her on his way past.

"KATIE BELL I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Bill's voice echoed up from downstairs.

"Uh oh." Katie darted behind Charlie. "Pretend I'm not here."

"BELL!"

"It was George!" Katie shouted back.

"Hey!" George's voice came from the kitchen. "Don't blame me! This one was all Katie."

"What did you do?" Charlie asked.

"Taught Teddy and Victoire a new trick, apparently." Katie shrugged, wrapping her arms around Charlie from behind as Bill came stomping up the steps. She grinned at him as casually as possible. "Hey Bill."

"Don't you 'hey Bill' me! Why exactly did Teddy and Victoire come bursting into my room screaming incoherently and start jumping on the bed while I was sleeping?" Bill demanded gruffly.

"They must have seen it somewhere and copied it." Katie said, still hiding behind Charlie. "I can't imagine where, though. You know how kids can be."

"They certainly didn't pick it up when you had them help bounce Ron out of bed this morning." Charlie laughed, grabbing hold of Katie and holding her, squirming, in front of him for his brother. Katie shrieked as Bill tickled her and Charlie held her down.

Finn, apparently having just arrived, bounded up the stairs and joined in, "Excellent. I see you've been keeping up the traditions, eh?"

Katie kicked Charlie in the shin and scrambled past him as he was jumping up and down. She stood poised at the stairs, ready to dart off if necessary. "Truce?"

"Ouch, Kate." Charlie swore loudly. "There was no call for kicking me."

"I beg to differ." Katie narrowed her eyes as Finn edged towards her. "Watch it, big brother."

"If you lot are done acting like the past ten years haven't happened, Mum wants to do presents." Percy called from the landing below.

"Excellent." Katie saluted and dashed down the stairs.

"I think that's bruising already." Charlie groaned. "Can't you keep your sister in check, Finny?"

"You're the one dating her." Finn shrugged.

"Katie you have to wait for everyone!" Mrs. Weasley scolded loudly from downstairs. "Honestly, the example you set for the little ones!"

"It's only from Charlie." You could hear the eye roll in Katie's voice.

"Shit." Charlie sprinted down the stairs, taking them three at a time and whisked the present out of Katie's eager hands. He leaned over, trying desperately to catch his breath. "You _cannot_ open that right now."

"Relax, it's really from Bill and Fleur." Katie snorted. "You lot were just taking too long."

"What'd you get her, Charlie?" Finn asked, he and Bill having thundered down the stairs nearly as quickly in an attempt to actually see the fiasco unfold. "Something that's not appropriate for everyone to see?"

"Is that a ring?" Chelsea's shriek interrupted whatever Charlie's retort was going to be as she pulled the wrapping off a little box.

"Damn." Finn darted across the room, shoving George over so he could sit next to his almost fiancée. "Uh, I had a really nice speech."

"I'll expect you to improve upon it and give it at dinner." Chelsea teased, slipping the ring on her finger.

"So, will you marry me?" Finn asked.

"Merlin, you're so romantic big brother." Katie snorted; everyone shushed her.

"Of course!" Chelsea kissed him. "Oh my goodness, I have to go owl my mother!"

"I'll help!" Finn hopped up and tugged Chelsea out of the room.

"Give me that." Katie snatched her present back from Charlie, who smirked at her. "And really, what _did_ you get me?"

"Nothing." Charlie sat on the floor and leaned back against Katie's seat, waving his wand so that his pile of presents flew over to him.

"Well, it's a good thing I got Audrey something _else_ for Christmas." Percy whispered to his mum. "I'd feel dumb proposing the same way that Finn did."

"You're proposing?" Katie hissed. She was sitting on the other side of Mrs. Weasley and had heard the whole thing. "Merlin, what is this world coming to? Percy? Married?"

"Honestly, Bell, the fact that you're in any kind of serious relationship astounds the rest of us more than my impending marriage. And keep your voice down; I'm saving it for later."

"Sorry Perce." Katie grinned. "Good luck."

Percy rolled his eyes. "Pay more attention to what you're doing, Katie. You've got all the paper off that one already."

"Brilliant! Thanks Bill and Fleur!" Katie shouted. "Look Charlie, Bill and Fleur got me this awesome pair of shoes. This is way better than your present."

"What did Charlie get you?" Ginny asked, clearly having missed the threat Charlie gave earlier that he wouldn't give Katie anything. Or maybe she was just egging Katie on; sometimes it was hard to tell.

"A big fat nothing." Charlie said. "Or that's what she's getting if she doesn't stop being so obnoxious."

"What do I get otherwise?" Katie asked. "I'd like to weigh my options."

"Kathryn, stop giving poor Charlie such a hard time." Mrs. Bell scolded from across the room. "Oh, and thanks for the book, dear!"

"Aww, he knows I'm only kidding, Mum." Katie laughed, tugging lightly on his ponytail. "I'm sorry for kicking you earlier. I didn't _actually_ mean to kick you so hard."

"If I'd only known what I was getting myself into when I asked you out." Charlie sighed.

"Jerk."

"Hey, Katie, where's my present?" George shouted, clearly put out that she hadn't gotten him anything.

"Calm down, George, it's outside." Katie rolled her eyes. "Thanks for the chocolate, by the way."

"You haven't opened it yet." George called back over his shoulder, already heading out the door. "Merlin! This is the best Christmas ever!"

"What'd you get him that had to stay outside?" Charlie strained to see out the window. Outside there was a loud explosion and the spluttering of an engine that quickly died. "Is that Sirius' old motorbike?"

"Not the same one; I think your dad's still got that one hidden in the shed. This one's a real piece of work. He'll be lucky if he ever gets it running, let alone off the ground. I found it at a yard sale for a knut."

There was a knock at the door and everyone froze, looking around and trying to figure out who could possibly be missing and who would bother to knock. Mrs. Weasley jumped up, suddenly realizing who it must be at the door; George's mysterious girlfriend. "Oh dear, she's here. Everyone try and behave."

"Why does everyone always look at me when they say that?" Katie protested.

"Probably because George isn't here, and everyone knows it's usually your idea anyway." Ginny snickered.

"Angelina Johnson?" Mrs. Weasley's voice floated in from the door. "What are you doing here? Not that it isn't lovely to see you; heartbreakingly pretty, as usual."

"You mean George didn't tell you he was dating me? I'm going to kill him." Angelina appeared in the doorway. "Alright Bell, fess up. Where's George? You can't save him this time."

"Outside." Katie pointed in the general direction quickly. "I told him to tell, but no."

Angelina disappeared into the back garden and a minute later everyone heard shouting. Katie dissolved into peals of laughter, reminded of the many times at Hogwarts when Angelina yelled at the twins.

"You done opening presents?" Charlie asked, not bothering to wait for Katie's answer as he tugged her out of the room and up the stairs. He pushed her in the direction of the bed and started digging through his belongings, looking for his present for her.

"Katie, come gush about the wedding with us!" Mrs. Bell shouted up the stairs.

"Oh, Merlin's Beard." Katie looked at Charlie in horror. "We are pretending that we've run away to Romania and are going to be very, _very_ quiet. Maybe forever."

"I don't see why it bothers you so much."

"It's going to be unavoidable when Percy proposes later. We'll see how you like it then, mister."

"Wait. Percy is proposing? Percy?"

"That's the one." Katie lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. "Who'd have thunk that Percy Weasley would be married before me? Unless you got me a ring for Christmas." Katie sat up and fixed Charlie with a look.

"Woah." Charlie held up his hands. "Slow down there, Kates. I didn't think you wanted a ring from me this soon."

"Percy!" Katie wailed, flopping back down on the bed. "What is this world coming to these days?"

The door flew open, and Angelina burst in. "You bought George a _motorbike_ for Christmas? Are you daft?"

"He'll never get it flying by himself." Katie said flatly.

"What's wrong with her?" Angelina asked, gesturing towards Katie, who was still lying on the bed and muttering to herself.

"Percy's getting married and she's not. So Katie is feeling a tad sorry for herself."

"Oh." Angelina turned back to Katie again. "But really, a _motorbike_? Whatever were you thinking? He'll crash and die for sure, leaving my children fatherless!"

"You're knocked up?" This announcement perked Katie right up. She sat straight up. "Dibs on godmother. Tell Alicia to suck it. This is the best Christmas ever! They'll all forget to prattle on about weddings with an illegitimate baby on the way!"

"No, I'm not pregnant." Angelina sniffed. "I was merely accounting for the ten years it's going to take George to get that bloody thing fixed and nearly airborne, when he'll crash and burn."

"Oh. So George, huh?"

"Yeah, well you're dating Charlie, so that was the only option left. It leaves poor Alicia all on her own."

"What has the world come to?" Katie sighed and flopped back down on the bed. "I had such high hopes for us. Don't slam the door on your way out."

"What are you doing up here anyway?" Angelina asked suspiciously, pausing at the door.

"Charlie is giving me my Christmas present, which he evidently left in Romania. Either that, or it's sitting right there on the nightstand and he's just blind as a bat."

"That's not the one I was looking for." Charlie growled, finally finding it and pulling out a bulky package. "See you later, Angelina."

"A motorcycle." Angelina could be heard muttering as she walked out of the room. "She got him a bloody motorcycle."

"I've forgotten how to move." Katie announced from where she was still lying on the bed, but now watching the present eagerly. "Which means you'll have to bring that to me."

"You are so obnoxious on holidays." Charlie grabbed both of her presents and joined her on the bed. She pulled something out from under the bed and scrambled into his lap. She kissed him once and turned her attention to the presents. Katie picked up the little package and started to open it. "You're going to hate those." Charlie warned.

"Then why give them to me?" Katie snorted, pulling out the diamond earrings. She did, in fact, hate them.

"They're Aunty Muriel's. You know how she-"

Katie's eyes got really big as she looked from the earrings to Charlie and back again, "These are Muriel's?"

"Yes." Charlie said slowly, not sure of Katie's reaction and if it was good or bad.

"You are giving me Muriel's earrings." Katie said, very slowly. She set them down on the nightstand very carefully, and then threw her arms around Charlie tightly.

"Kate, do you like them?"

"Like them? They're hideous and I'll never, ever wear them. I _love_ them!" Katie beamed. "You're serious."

"Okay, you've completely lost me." Charlie laughed, glad that he'd obviously made Katie ridiculously happy, but baffled as to how he'd done it, exactly.

"You just gave me Muriel's jewelry, which means you're very serious about us. Obviously, I already knew you were serious, but Charlie…" Katie grinned slowly and shook her head, obviously at a loss for words.

"I've goofed about before, so nobody could tell how serious about you I am." Charlie finished.

"Exactly!"

"Well, Katie Bell, I'm 'Muriel's jewelry' serious." Charlie kissed her slowly. "I want you."

"Open your present!" Katie whispered, obviously bursting with excitement.

"Nope. Open your other one."

"We'll do it on three." Katie found a corner of the wrapping paper and slid her finger underneath. "One. Two. Three!"

They both ripped the paper off their respective presents and stared at them. Katie opened the lid to inspect the inside of the box. It was neatly compartmentalized with a proper spot for her favorite quills, ink, and parchment. The box was charmed to be a lot deeper than it appeared, with the sides covered in filing slots for works-in-progress.

"It's beautiful, Char." Katie grinned, only to find that Charlie was just sitting there and staring at the watch that she'd gotten him. Her heart sunk; she'd expected him to be more excited. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Charlie said quickly. "It's just… where did you even find this?"

"Well." Katie pulled the watch out of the box and looked at the inscription on the back, then showed it to Charlie, who was staring at her in awe. "It took me a long time, but I even asked your mum to be sure. It was in a Muggle junk shop in London. I got it fixed, even had them put a couple of spells on it so you can wear it and not worry about it getting scratched or broken, even around the dragons."

"Kate." Charlie breathed. "You know this was my uncle Fabian's, right? And that the Death Eaters tried to steal it, but it was charmed so that nobody outside the family could unclasp it."

"Gideon's matching watch went to Bill when he started Hogwarts, and you got Fabian's with the broken clasp, only nobody knew it was broken until it was too late." Katie handed Charlie the watch. "I know; I've heard the story a million times, enough that I knew what the watch looked like so I could find it. I've been looking since you lost it, you know."

"You amaze me." Charlie said, fumbling with the clasp. Katie reached over and clasped it for him. Charlie caught her hands and pulled her down on the bed with him, tucking her hair behind her ear and kissing her.

"Merlin!" George shouted from the doorway, just as things were getting heated. He had his hand clamped over his eyes as if his sensibilities were offended. "There are children in this house, I'll have you know!"

"Go away George!" Katie threw a pillow in his general direction and tugged her shirt back in place, though Charlie's hand remained very obviously up it.

"I wish I could, but Angelina made me promise to come and get you and not leave until I had successfully dragged you out of this room."

"Then it's your fault if you don't like what you're seeing." Charlie growled and proceeded to ignore George.

"I'll call Mum, don't think I'm above that." George warned, still covering his eyes. "Charlie! Where _exactly_ is your hand?"

"Well, it's up my girlfriend's-"

"CHARLIE!" Katie clapped her hand over his mouth. "George. If you do _not_ get out of here in the next ten seconds-"

"What's going- Merlin!" Ginny smacked George in the back of the head and dragged him out of the room by the collar. Outside the closed door, she could be heard yelling at George, "George, what is your problem? Do you _want_ to live to see next Christmas?"

"Ugh." Katie groaned as Charlie slowly slid his hand out of Katie's shirt. "I forgot there's no safe place in this house."

"You were worse." Charlie pointed out, rolling onto his back so they were lying side by side. "You would lead the twins in busting me every time I tried to sneak off with a girl."

"That was by design." Katie grinned, rolling over so her chin was resting on his chest. "If I couldn't be doing shady things with you in your bedroom, I sure as hell was going to make sure you weren't doing them with anyone else either."

"You're six years younger than me, Kate. What did you expect? I certainly wasn't going to run off with a twelve-year-old when my hormones were raging at eighteen."

"To this day, have you ever had sex with a girl in this room?"

"No."

"Then my ploy worked perfectly." Katie kissed him quickly and stood up. "Come on, I want to show off my new earrings. Tonight we can break that sorry record of yours."

Charlie grinned wolfishly at the thought, and then groaned. "Mum is going to kill me. That's why I didn't want you to open them earlier. I haven't told her I was giving them to you. Do me a favor, don't wear them."

Katie smirked and dashed out of the room. "Mum! Mrs. Weasley! Guess what Charlie gave me for Christmas!"

"Katie Bell, I'm going to kill you!" Charlie shouted, but he was laughing as he followed his girlfriend at a more leisurely pace. When he got downstairs, Katie had already told both their mothers and Mrs. Tonks about the present, and the four women were looking at him like they might all kiss him. Charlie shook his head and wrapped his arms around Katie from behind, kissing her on the side of the head. "Did she mention what she got me for Christmas?"

"No." Mrs. Weasley raised her eyebrow.

"Kate found Fabian's watch." Charlie handed the watch to his mother for inspection, wrapping his arms back around Katie.

Mrs. Weasley looked like she was about to cry as she gently ran her fingers over the inscription and pressed a hand to her cheek. She handed the watch to Mrs. Bell, who passed it to Mrs. Tonks. "Katie had asked me about it, but I didn't think she'd actually found it. Thank you, Katie, for finding my brother's watch."

Katie blushed and took the watch back, busying herself with fastening it back on Charlie's wrist to cover her embarrassment. He kissed the side of her head again and let her go, heading off in search of his brothers. When Katie looked up, all three women were looking at her with interesting expressions on their faces.

"What?" Katie asked.

"You've got it bad." Ginny announced from the doorway. "When's the wedding?"

"You'd best be talking about Finny's wedding." Katie pursed her lips. "Now if you don't mind, I've got to see a man about a motorbike."

Ginny waited until Katie was successfully out of the house and then turned to her mother. "I've just seen the ring! Says he's thinking about doing it in Romania next week. He's just trying to establish that Katie won't freak out and run away. They _have_ only been together since Easter."

"Three weddings." Mrs. Weasley sighed happily. "That's a lot of planning. Ginny, don't you or Ron go getting engaged on us right now. You hear me? Wait until this lot has finished."

Ginny shrugged noncommittally and changed the subject. "It'll be nice to have a sister I actually like, although I must admit that Fleur has gotten easier to deal with."

"Shh!" Mrs. Weasley scolded, but she was nodding in agreement. "I've never seen Charlie so… settled."

"Happy." Mrs. Bell suggested. "Katie either. They'll keep each other entertained. I just hope she likes Romania, and I do wish she'd told us rather than Charlie owling us last month."

"But that's just Katie." Mrs. Tonks laughed, thinking of her own daughter who had been much the same when it came to relationships. "She does what is good for her, even if you don't like it, and she'll not discuss it with anyone."

"Well. I have been known to overreact, but I'm nothing next to Hugo." Mrs. Bell admitted, drawing peals of laughter from everyone in the room at the memories. "I must admit, I never thought Katie would settle down with anyone half as good as Charlie."

Outside, Katie was attempting to help George with the motorbike while Angelina tutted disapprovingly. They were pulling pieces apart, conversing happily about how old and dirty the components all were and how they were unlikely to work, and then tossing them aside into a giant pile where they could forget where each piece went. At one point, Katie prodded something unrecognizable and a black cloud of soot emitted from the piece with an echoing bang, completely covering Katie and George from head to toe. They turned to each other with identical grins, their white teeth a stark contrast to the black soot coating their faces.

The noise brought from the house a curious Mr. Weasley, who had only been waiting for an excuse to come tinker with the bike along with his son. Charlie and Bill came a half second behind, bringing the news that Percy had proposed on a morning walk to the village.

"And she accepted?" George asked, sharing a look with Katie. Then he nervously glanced at Angelina, afraid that she might be getting ideas from the wedding happy household. She was busy trying to get the soot out of her new coat and muttering about knowing better than to wear white near George Weasley.

"You ought to insist she get her head checked, Mr. Weasley." Katie said meekly, as if really concerned for the girl's health. "I would hate for her to pass along any sort of judgment impairing disease to your grandchildren."

"Maybe she was just being nice. You know, didn't want to turn Perce down in front of his family. She'll just break it to him easily sometime next week." George suggested.

"Enough, you two." Mr. Weasley said, but he couldn't keep the grin off of his face. It was moments like this that he found himself thankful for the cheerful additions of the Bells to family holidays, people who helped him remember and honor the time he'd had with his son and all the things he had to be thankful for, rather than dwelling on the loss of Fred. Katie Bell had always been close to the twins, but rather closer to Fred than George. After Fred's death, the pair had learned to appreciate each other all the more for the void they helped to fill. It was so easy during the holidays to slip back to that place of grief they'd been in after the Battle of Hogwarts, but the loud laughing antics of Katie and Finn added to the din of his own children kept the melancholy at bay.

"Have you any idea how to clean these parts or where they go if you want to reassemble the bike?" Charlie asked, picking up a couple pieces from the heap and eyeing them carefully.

"Not a clue." George admitted. "Katie's not allowed to clean anything though. We all know she hasn't mastered any of the handier housewifey spells."

"Not true." Katie stuck her tongue out at George. "I know how to get rid of stains and dirt, which was what was really important to know hanging around with you all these years. So what if my packing leaves something to be desired in the neatness department?"

"Neatness?" Bill asked with raised eyebrows. "So you've finally figured out how to pack what you're meaning to pack?"

Katie pointedly ignored him and looked to see what Charlie was examining. "That piece is broken."

"Do you even know what it is?" Charlie asked, looking amused.

"No, but that's the piece that exploded everywhere, so I'm going out on a limb and calling it broken."

"It's part of the engine." Bill said, taking the piece from Charlie.

"No way!" Katie grabbed the piece from Bill and wiped at the soot on the side. "This is the gas tank. I told George not to mess with the engine until we could make enough noise to lure you three out here so we could actually make some sort of progress. Ironically the actual noise ended up being an accident. Charlie, watch out for that do-dad you're about to step on. It's something with the brakes."

"Katie, by all means show us your prowess in removing dirt. I cannot take you seriously right now." Charlie took back what was, in fact, the gas tank, something that Bill knew very well. Charlie had to admit he was a little impressed with his girlfriend's sudden knowledge of motorbikes, especially since a moment prior she'd seemed determined to cover up any such knowledge. "When did you learn all of this?"

"She's been helping me with the project sometimes." Mr. Weasley admitted, but quietly as if his wife might hear from inside the house. He jabbed his thumb towards the shed where Sirius' old motorbike was hidden until he could finish fixing it for Harry. "Told me she'd found one for George and wanted to learn something so he wouldn't show her up while they were trying to fix it."

Katie had somehow managed to clean herself of dirt, except for a smudge on her cheek. She'd also gotten the gas tank completely clean in the process and had sat on the ground to begin sorting through the pile of parts. "Half this mess isn't going to work."

"You're helping him with that death trap?" Angelina sighed, apparently resigned to the idea. She wisely turned her white coat into a black one with a tap of her wand and sat down by Katie, determined that if she couldn't convince them to abandon the project she might as well join them.

"I cannot believe you're working on that nasty thing getting all disgusting before Christmas dinner!" Mrs. Weasley shouted from the back door some time later. "Really! Can't we have one nice dinner a year where everyone looks presentable? Now go get cleaned up, the lot of you!"

The whole bunch was covered in grease, soot, and dirt from head to toe. Except for Katie, who was mysteriously free of any sort of dirt or grime.

"I told you I was really good at getting rid of dirt. I won't get dirty for at least three more days!" Katie told Charlie as they headed into the Burrow. She demonstrated by taking Charlie's grease stained hands and rubbing her white sweater all over them. The dirt was banished immediately.

"In that case, you can help with dinner." Mrs. Weasley said, grabbing Katie's arm.

"No!" Shouted everyone in the kitchen, and George even went so far as to place himself between his mother and Katie and push Katie away, eyes wide in horror.

"Remember the Turducken Incident of 1999." George said solemnly, causing everyone to shudder slightly at the memory.

"Relax, I'm not letting her near the food!" Mrs. Weasley laughed. "I'm simply going to have her clean and set the table."

"Oh." George released his hold on Katie. "In that case, better you than me, mate."

"I've always wanted to help set the table!" Katie said, rolling up her sleeves and making the entire company a little nervous.

"No magic!" Mrs. Weasley shouted, but it was too late.

Katie had already waved her wand, sending the clean tablecloths over to the tables with a resounding smack to lay themselves perfectly smoothly and evenly on the tables. The plates flew to the table and rolled neatly to a stop in front of each place setting, followed by silverware, which zoomed around the room so quickly that everyone dropped to the floor to avoid getting stabbed by a flying fork. Glasses played leapfrog across the floor and onto the table, each finding their own place. As a final touch, the napkins marched around the edge of the table, folding themselves intricately.

"Well." Mrs. Weasley stood up and smoothed her skirt. "That went better than expected. It seems we've finally found a household magic that you're good at, Katie."

"I can shine all the silverware too!"

"No!" Charlie tackled Katie to the ground in an effort to stop her. There was a bright light and the silverware was shinier than it had been since it was first made by goblins. Charlie groaned and picked up a fork to inspect it.

"Ouch! Why'd you do that?" Katie asked thickly, examining her arm, which was bent at a very strange angle. Her nose was bleeding profusely from when Charlie had accidently nailed it with his fist on the way down; it too appeared to be broken.

Charlie grabbed a small piece of turkey, held it up in the air for everyone to observe, and tried to stick it on the fork, at which time it promptly disappeared. Everyone groaned.

"That was all my silverware." Mrs. Weasley sighed. "Can't you reverse it?"

Katie went wide-eyed and shook her head back and forth emphatically, apparently too horrified to speak by the memory of a previous attempt at a spell reversal. Everyone held his or her breath, waiting for Mrs. Weasley's reaction.

"It'll wear off in three days." Angelina suggested helpfully, deflating some of the tension and reminding Mrs. Weasley that Katie had been trying to help. Charlie threw Angelina a thankful glance.

"Well, I might have her do the floors." Mrs. Weasley closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Alright. We'll just have to use our hands to eat dinner." She said cheerily. "Everyone go get cleaned up, and Charlie for goodness sake fix your girlfriend's arm and nose since you had to make her bleed."

"Sorry Kate." Charlie said, scooping Katie off the floor and hurrying her out of the kitchen. "At least your white sweater isn't ruined?"

"I ruined Christmas dinner again." Katie moaned. "And I broke the no injuries on holidays rule. We were doing so well too, with no accidents for three major gatherings. Your mum is going to hate me."

"She's never hated you before when you ruined Christmas dinner." Charlie suggested helpfully, hoping to avoid the tears that someone always shed on holidays.

This was just enough to push Katie over the edge and she started crying, much to Charlie's chagrin. Charlie managed to get Katie into his room and sat on the bed, cradling her against his chest and carefully kissing away her tears, so as to not jostle her broken nose.

"Katie, think about it. We're all still here and we're all still together. You and I have two more weeks together. We have a wonderful meal, even if we do have to eat it with our hands. And you've given us yet another holiday story to laugh about year after year, just like the Bottomless Glass and the Turducken Incident."

"But then I was just Katie Bell, not your girlfriend trying to make a good impression on your mother and family. I was doing so well, and I just had to botch it all up."

"You couldn't botch it up, Kate." Charlie kissed her on the forehead. "Mum and everyone else already love you. They knew they loved you way before I knew that I loved you. Merlin, Fred knew when you were fifteen! Did you see Mum's face when I handed her that watch? No amount of screw-ups can take that away. You impressed her years ago, and continue to do so all the time."

"You think?" Katie wrapped her good arm around Charlie's neck, burying her face in his shirt.

"I know." Charlie gently pulled her close to him. "Besides, earlier I heard her and Ginny talking about how they hope we get married so they can like one of our wives since Fleur is… well, Fleur. You'll be the favorite, though they really like Hermione too and are fond of Audrey."

Katie scowled at her arm as she examined it more closely, still sitting in Charlie's lap. "I still don't see what good tackling me was supposed to do."

"I love you?" Charlie said apologetically, taking a firm grip on Katie's wrist so she couldn't wrench her arm away. He tapped it with his wand, and she inhaled sharply through her teeth at the pain as the broken bones shifted to mend properly. He took her chin in an equally firm grip and tapped her nose with his wand quickly; afraid if he took his time he wouldn't be able to do it. Katie let out an involuntary yip at the sudden pain and her eyes watered reflexively. "Sorry, sorry!" Charlie cradled her cheek in his hand.

"Are you crying?" Katie laughed, touching the offending drop of moisture on Charlie's cheek with obvious amusement.

"I never wanted to hurt you." Charlie admitted quietly.

"You didn't do it on purpose." Katie put her hand on top of his, which was still cradling her face. "You would never hurt me, Charlie."

"No." He kissed her deeply.

"I love you, Charlie Weasley." Katie said. "But if you don't get cleaned up for dinner, your mum really is going to hate me, and probably any future children we may or may not have. You've got my blood and motorbike grease everywhere."

Charlie shook his head and grabbed a clean change of clothes and headed for the bathroom. Katie was still spotless, thanks to her overly thorough cleaning charm. She just pulled her hair out of its ponytail, ran her fingers through it, and sprawled across Charlie's bed to wait for him. When he came back his hair was free of its band, and Katie noticed that it was considerably shorter than it previously had been. The length was now such that it might now be considered long by Molly Weasley's standards, though considered short by Charlie's recent standards, being too short for a ponytail, and was certainly neatly cut and styled.

"You cut your hair!" Katie bounced up to run her fingers through his new hair.

"And?"

"You look dashing, of course." Katie pulled his hands around her waist and kissed him, enjoying the feeling of her fingers in his hair. "But why'd you do it?"

"Your zooming silverware hacked off half of it, so I didn't have much choice. I figured that was a solid hint." Charlie teased. "Do you really like it?"

"I really do. You looked fine before, but I think this style really suits you. I can't look at you without wanting to kiss you."

"I'll keep it then." Charlie said, enthusiastically obliging her by kissing her until she was left clinging to him to stay on her feet. "Come on, let's watch Mum have a fit of happiness."

"She's bound to think it's my good influence." Katie laughed, and Charlie with her at the absurdity of her having a 'good influence' on any Weasley when she'd been considered a 'bad influence' on the twins for so many years. "You know, I think that's when your mum really started to like Fleur, when she convinced Bill to cut his hair."

The couple headed downstairs, where everyone fussed over Charlie's haircut, Katie's magical mishap quite forgotten, and sometimes blatantly ignored to spare Katie's feelings. As they were laughing with their family, it occurred to Katie that she hadn't noticed half of Charlie's ponytail missing, and neither had anyone else. She was slightly suspicious, but if he'd orchestrated the whole thing to help provide distraction from her earlier charm work, she wasn't about to appear ungrateful.

As Christmas dinner drew to a close, everyone gathered to linger about the tree. Everyone was reluctant to go home and end the holiday, because Boxing Day would require a return to homes and jobs for everyone. Katie once again sat on the arm of Charlie's chair, but before the night was truly begun he had pulled her into his lap and she had acquiesced without struggle. Katie reflected that it had been a fairly standard holiday for their families, with happiness and togetherness that sometimes led to injuries and tears, but was always perfect. She and Charlie had two weeks together, her transfer request would be on the proper desk first thing two mornings from now, and she rather thought they'd marry one of these days.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley thought very similar thoughts about their happy family, glad to see their remaining children all together and happy with someone of their own, all of whom fit seamlessly (more or less) into the family. They were happy to spend the holidays with their extended family, Mr. and Mrs. Bell, Finn and Chelsea, and Katie, Mrs. Tonks, and little Teddy Lupin, who was currently playing with his godfather Harry. They were healing, and though they missed Fred terribly, along with their other deceased friends, it was important that they live their lives to the fullest extent that those deaths would not be in vain. And if they could help Mrs. Tonks appreciate the holidays and her darling grandson by sharing their family, then they would do so gladly. Mr. Weasley took his wife's hand and squeezed it, sharing a smile that spoke volumes.

George Weasley was thinking about his new motorbike and wondering how he'd ever manage to get it flying. He grinned at Angelina and thought perhaps he'd marry her eventually, but he was glad that she wasn't pressuring him on that front. Three weddings was simply more than enough for him at the moment, because looking at his best friend and brother he knew that they belonged together, just as Fred had known it. Merlin knew he'd tease them for it twice as much since Fred wasn't here to do it himself and Katie couldn't very well play his part on this front.

When any member of the party looked around, they saw love and smiles from every other person present. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that Christmas at the Weasleys' was very happy indeed.


End file.
